Category: school-culture

Rachel B and Michaela V have attended Connect for 6 years. Yesterday evening the two shared a commencement address with their fellow graduating Grade 9s that perfectly captures the essence of what our Connect Charter School is about. Thank you so … Continue reading A Connect Commencement Address

Connect Charter School is thrilled to be hosting a screening of “The Happy Movie” as part of our annual Peace Festival. This screening is open to members of the general public and is free (please consider bringing a donation to the Calgary Food Bank). In conjunction with the film, there will also be an artisan craft market open before and after. See attached poster for more information regarding the artisans. Doors open at 6pm for the craft market and the movie will begin at 7pm. Hope to see you there! Continue reading Film Screening: The Happy Movie (Tuesday, Dec. 16)

-by Kevin Sonico, Grade 9 Math/Science Teacher This blog post is part 2 of a series of blogs Kevin wrote summarizing his Research and Innovation Project on Research Experience and Its Impact on Teaching Practice. Theme 1: Professional Growth Teachers undertook an initiative considered to be beyond the responsibilities of a typical classroom teacher. Whether their research experiences were positive or negative, it was assumed that lessons were learned from their experiences. As such, teacher growth was interpreted as part of the research experience and a consequence of the teacher-researcher phenomenon. As researchers, participants became more reflective in their practice. … Continue reading Teachers as Researchers: Theme 1 – Professional Growth

InnovateWest is a professional development initiative that focuses on bringing educators together to share, build and reflect on exemplary teaching, learning, and leadership practices with the goal of building a network of innovative educators. This annual conference will be held on October 24 and 25, 2014 at Connect Charter School. The conference begins on Friday morning with a student guided tour of Connect Charter School on an instructional school day. Participants will have ample time to observe classrooms and dialogue with students and teachers in a rich inquiry setting. Facilitated discussions will be hosted at the school during the three … Continue reading Innovate West – October 24-25, 2014

by Dan McWilliam In 2011 staff at the Connect Charter School, Calgary Science School at the time, were asked “What does exemplary teaching and learning look like?” The process and rationale for the creation of the frameworks is described here. “In addressing this question, reference was made to the work that has been done on student assessment through our AISI project; the Galileo longitudinal research study of the Calgary Science School one-on-one laptop program and student engagement initiatives; the expectations for exemplary teaching outlined in the Alberta Teaching Quality Standard and a variety of artefacts including school evaluation reports, survey data … Continue reading Exemplary Teaching and Learning Frameworks

Monday December 17 saw the kickoff performance and assembly for our annual Peace Festival. The theme this year is ‘Wellness’. A teacher committee, with the help of some grade 9 students, recruited parents and teachers as volunteers and experts to facilitate workshops that share the idea of physical, mental and spiritual wellness. Students were treated to the grade 6 play Once on a Rooftop with an evening performance for parents. Over the following days students will be skating at the community rink and playing hockey with the teacher vs. student game Tuesday at lunch. HipHop dance and Tai Chi workshops are held … Continue reading Peace Festival at CSS

On November 15, 2012 the Calgary Science School grade 9 students, along with the grade 8 ‘Me to We’ elective students, were invited to participate in the National Philanthropy Day Youth Forum in the Palomino Room at Stampede Park. This generous invitation was extended by the Association of Professional Fundraisers who also organized a simultaneous luncheon for Calgary’s philanthropic community to highlight and celebrate the generosity of our city’s many benefactors. The Youth Forum consisted of five workshops that students rotated through in groups to explore issues related to philanthropy and community service. When each group completed a station they … Continue reading National Philanthropy Day

Dr. Garry McKinnon Dennis Sumara, dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Calgary, talks with Grade 4 student Sasha Longley, left, as Bruce March, chairman and CEO of Imperial Oil talks with Grade 4 student Owen Leveille, right, during their science class at the Calgary Science School after Imperial Oil and the University of Calgary announced a major partnership. Photograph by: Leah Hennel , Calgary Herald One of the 16 descriptors of Exemplary Teaching in the Calgary Science School makes reference to a research focus where classrooms are thriving places of active research and teachers and students are … Continue reading Launch of the Imperial Oil Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Initiative

Ivy Waite Here at CSS, we are privileged in our school’s approach to collaboration and the time that we are given to work together. The inclusion of collaboration in the Exemplary Teaching and Learning frameworks is not just another indicator. Collaboration is at the heart of the amazing things that happen at CSS. That being said, the actual, lived experiences of collaboration are vastly different from one teaching team to the next. Teachers do, however, seem to agree that relationships are key to successful collaboration, and evaluating such dynamic processes is difficult. Enter: a research and innovation project aimed initially … Continue reading Envisioning Exemplary Collaboration at CSS